Instead, his reward for helping us to an immediate return to the Prem is to find himself unemployed. I'm not quibbling with the decision in footballing terms as his lack of pace would be cruelly exposed in the Prem, but is seems a bit of a rum way of saying thank you.
Carew and Faubert have also been shown the door but can have no complaints. I have dealt with Faux Pas on another thread and, at 28, he will have the opportunity to frustrate fans at another club. For Carew, however, things go from bad to worse. There were reports that he had filed for bankruptcy - and there's only one way a modern footballer can fall that far financially surely - and he has looked truly hopeless for most of the season. Where now for the washed up Viking?
This is surely only the first wave of departures. Sears, O'Brien, Demel, Diop...the list isn't quite endless but there's a lot of flotsam and jetsam in the squad at the moment. Faye isn't one of them; he's just too old and too slow. Let's hope he finds another club quickly.
Any fond memories of Faye, other than his celebration after "scoring" that goal against Miserablebrough, post below.
14 comments:
i like o'brien
I would be very surprised if Demel and O'Brien were shown the door
Think he was brilliant for us, got to say. When we were not firing up front and were grinding results out, he was the main reason we were getting those results. Fearless, brave - one of our best signings in terms of doing the job he was bought for (apart from when he went all 'Faux bear' on us against Millwall and instead of hitting it into row Z tried to play it out of defence and passed it to one of their players who scored)
Anony-mouse says,
I'm afraid HF the bottom line is that as you say in the top league his lack of pace would be his downfall. He was terrific against more predictable teams, for example the first Cardiff away game a few weeks back. However he was found out late on in the season by teams who made him look cumbersome by simply bypassing him by playing around him into space (Brum and Reading). In the Premier League they all play like that so it would only have got worse.
I think you have to ask if we didn't have him already would we be signing him now to play in the top league. The answer is no. Sentiment is something we sadly can't afford as money is tight and we can't waste it. He'll do a decent job for another Championship side next season if he stays in this country. I wish him well.
Doesn't seem too bothered
At montblanc event in Cannes with @HofitGolan http://twitter.com/JCarew10/status/205032410923012097/photo/1
Other than Tomkins, Faye was our most reliable defender. I really didn't expect this. He may be rather old but I would have expected him to remain in the squad. Big mistake as far as I am concerned.
Absolute rock at the back. Most opposing centre forwards didn't want to come near him after they had been crunched. Took out man and ball. Williss his dominance at the back. His lack of mobility is a big minus. I wish him well
West Ham have looked so fragile defensively in seasons past that Faye's contribution was a welcome relief. Sorry to see him go but it's probably best all round. A player with his qualities though will be welcome at any number of Championship sides. I think that speaks volumes about the guy... you couldn't say the same thing about others.
Best of luck to him.
I want to ask everyone this question. Maybe a thread, HF?
One of the reasons that Reading and Southampton did as well as they did, in my opinion, was that they had been together as squads for awhile. We, on the other hand, had wholesale changes and needed time to gel. At least thats what a lot of people used as an excuse for some poor performances.
We obviously need to strengthen. But is "blowing up the squad" again dangerous for other reasons? I have total faith in Sam here, but it will be interesting.
Anony-mouse says,
You're absolutely right USA Dave in that Reading and Saints did have a head start on us last August. Although Reading were hard hit in losing their best players we lost ours too and had a turn around of 46 players. A necessary but ridiculously high turnover that to my mind was one of the reasons things didn't come together until so late in the season.
Ideally, we'd not have to make too many changes next year but I think we'll need a few in. That's cos Allardyce had limited (whatever people say) funds to re-build a squad with the aim of getting out of the Championship. And that's what he did but some of his signings would never have been made had we still been a Premier league side- Carew, Faye, Diop, Baldock (?), Pearce, etc. Not that I dislike those players btw- it's just I'm being realistic. What that means is that we'll have a bigger turnover again than we'd want. Hopefully it'll be the kind of intelligent aquisitions we saw when we went up under Pardew- Gabbidon (very good player at the time), Collins and Benayoun, etc.
We've got the nucleus of a decent team already- Green (I know but he isn't gone yet), Tomkins, Reid (I hope his partnership with Tommo is the real deal), Nolan, Noble, Vaz Te and Cole. I may be being generous to a couple of those but that's seven. Beyond that I'd like to see what Demel can do (but we'll need cover in case pace is his achilles heel), Collison, Taylor and McCartney can do a job and maybe Morrison can come through be the creative midfielder we'll need.
Im probably in the minority here, but I am not too bothered about Green. I hope he stays, but I would not be that worried if he left. I think we could get a comparable keeper in without too much bother.
Its a balaning act that USA Dave and I have been discussing for the last couple of weeks. Ideally I would like to see two new starting backs, one new starting midfielder, and One new striker to go into a three mam rotation up front. Obviously we will sign others, but if we return with a core seven starters and fill the positions above, I think we will achieve the right mix between improving for the Prem and having the continuity we clearly lacked at the start of this past season.
Anony-mouse says,
Jonathan Ross- I agree. If we can keep much of the core we will be able to concentrate our limited resources on three, maybe four new first teamers. I think some of the names being bandied about are unrealistic, and I hope we concentrate on young, pacy team players just as Pards did in 2005. I trust Allardyce to get it right if given the resources. Whether that's forthcoming may be another matter methinks.
USA Dave- I had never seen that sleepy Faubert vid until you mentioned it. Thanks for the tip- loved it :)
My pleasure
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